Taivara and InterDigital Work Together to Secure IoT

COLUMBUS, OH – March 22, 2016 –Taivara (http://www.taivara.com/), a technology commercialization studio, announced an agreement with InterDigital, Inc. (http://www.interdigital.com/) to develop multi-factor authentication (MFA) for Internet of Things (IoT) edge devices. The solution will ensure the integrity of these devices when they are activated and while in service. It will offer “device security as a service” capability that will allow IoT service providers and system administrators to know when security breaches occur and to initiate mitigation techniques.

With MFA, we take IoT Security to the next level. Authentication methods are already familiar and widely used. For individuals, this may include usernames and passwords, biometrics, PINs and more. Rather than using only one such method, MFA looks at a variety of data to determine user’s identity. The same principle can be applied for IoT devices where several identifying factors can be used to determine if a device is in its expected secure state.

“A lightweight system that ensures the integrity of IoT devices on your network is necessary and yet not well addressed in the market,” says Kevin Dwinnell, Director of Product & Strategy at Taivara. “Hackers will have billions of unsophisticated IoT devices at their disposal which they can exploit and do harm. We want to prevent that with a solution that extends MFA all the way to the edge devices, even legacy ones.”

The low processing power and potentially inconsistent connectivity put pressures on what can be loaded onto the edge devices. Combined with the fact that many IoT service providers have limited experience with security creates many potential vulnerabilities. This solution works without installation of any special agents on the device themselves and simplifies the risk alerting and mitigation process.

“With so much effort being placed on the IoT, security is frequently an afterthought and remains partially addressed,” stated James J. Nolan, Executive Vice President, IoT Solutions at InterDigital. “Each hardware device offers its own unique fingerprint and we can let IoT service providers and system administrators know when that device has been tampered with in a timely fashion that will allow prevention and any further compromise.”

About Taivara

Taivara is a collection of experienced entrepreneurs, not theorists, who partner to build new businesses. Taivara is active at each stage of the innovation value chain – from sourcing and vetting ideas, to accelerating and validating the most promising ideas, and launching at scale businesses that achieve product market fit. Founded in 2011, Taivara has provided innovation services for numerous startup and corporate clients including Acceptd, Alliance Data Systems, Battelle, Cardinal Health, Sprout it – sponsored by Scotts Miracle Gro, TicketFire and more. For more information, visit: http://taivara.com